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A best practice youth suicide prevention model designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse.

The wellness of our students is central to their capacity to learn. DCSD's Prevention & School Culture and Mental Health Intervention departments are dedicated to supporting our students while providing for their physical, social, and emotional needs.

Our Intervention Team

Social/emotional support and intervention is a collaboration between administrators, teachers, parents, counselors, school social workers and school psychologists. By building student skills in communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity, we prepare students for learning and for life. Our work covers prevention, as well as targeted and intensive intervention for those who need additional support.

Each school has a building level crisis team that responds when unfortunate situations occur in a building. If the crisis is more intense or wide spread, the building may also engage the district crisis team.

District Mental Health Crisis Team

In the event of a student, parent or staff member death or other traumatic situation, the Douglas County School District's Crisis Team takes action. The District's mental health professionals and administrators work in conjunction with DCSD's Community Relations department and Douglas County law enforcement entities to provide assistance to our school communities.

How to find support and intervention

Each school has designated time from a school psychologist. Most buildings also have designated time from a school social worker. Each secondary school has counselors. To locate your school counselor, please check the building's website. Below are buttons to find the school psychologists and social workers who serve in your high school feeder.

Resources

Team U.P. (which stands for Universal Prevention) supports prevention efforts in schools in the areas of substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention, bullying prevention, and relationship and school violence prevention. Staff members help schools implement these crucial prevention efforts in person. Read on to learn about the offerings of Team U.P.

Seminars: Healthy Social Relationships

Team U.P. partners with elementary schools to offer half-day seminars to 5th and 6th grade students about healthy social relationships. These seminars consist of break-out sessions which include intentional games, discussions, and activities to proactively help these students navigate their way in social situations. Topics addressed during this event include the following: respect, diversity, commonalities, leadership, and preteen culture. In addition, there are sessions that talk about the differences between bullying and normal conflict, being a bystander and an upstander, and what are the sources of support these students turn to when life gets tricky, regardless of the magnitude of the problem. If you are interested in hosting a seminar at your school, please contact Ann Metz ammetz[at]dcsdk12[dot]org.

Teen Dating Violence

Team U.P. works with schools to create Restorative Cultures. By using the 5 R's of Restorative strategies , Relationships, Responsibility, Respect, Repair and Reintegration, we work to establish positive communities in our schools.

Substance Abuse Prevention

Team U.P. is passionate about teaching healthy behaviors regarding substance abuse. We know that using alcohol and drugs can decrease a teen’s decision making skills and to make rational judgements, and increase their risk taking. Team U.P. uses Botvin Life Skills for Middle and High Schools:

giving students the tools to develop high self-esteem

teaching students to make good decisions based on what is best for them

emphasizing good communication and assertiveness skills

encouraging healthy and positive relationships

developing positive coping skills to live a life that is free from substance abuse

Take common household medicines (tylenol, vitamins, etc.) and candies and put them in numbered ziplock bags and have kids guess whether it was candy or medicine. Do not hand out or pass around bags. Discuss as doing activity the importance of knowing the difference.

What your brain is like on drugs activity: Use jolly ranchers and divide class into 2 teams. hey each have to race to open jolly ranchers. Then give each team gloves. They repeat the race and put gloves on before they try to open them. Time each race and they can see the difference. Then talk about why it was harder and how drugs can impair the brain in permanent ways like the gloves impaired their ability to open the candy.